Tigers Promote Sizemore, Demote Rhymes In Second base swap

NEW YORK - AUGUST 19: Will Rhymes #28 of the Detroit Tigers connects on a first inning base hit against the New York Yankees on August 19, 2010 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Losing breeds changes.

The Tigers lost their seventh consecutive game Monday, 5-3 to the visiting Yankees, so they made a roster move after the game. Another move will have to be made Wednesday when Victor Martinez is eligible to come off the disabled list.

The Tigers swapped second basemen with their Class AAA Toledo farm club, optioning out Will Rhymes and bringing up Scott Sizemore. It was slightly less than a year ago when Sizemore, then hitting .206, made the trip in reverse.

“We’ve been scuffling from an offensive perspective,” general manager Dave Dombrowski said in announcing the move, “and Sizemore is has been hitting more than .400, so we figure that this will give us a little more pop in our lineup.”

Rhymes is batting .221 with a .321 on-base percentage.

Ramon Santiago remains the primary backup and could get even more playing time, especially late in games for his defense or when Detroit needs a left-handed pinch hitter.

Sizemore being a right-handed bat would seem to indicate the sliding of Ryan Raburn from left to second is being put on hold — unless Sizemore doesn’t hit.

Raburn isn’t hitting for a high average, but he is a run-producer. Brennan Boesch is in a slump, so manager Jim Leyland might play mix-and-match with Raburn, Boesch and slumping Magglio Ordonez.

Switching Rhymes for Sizemore means the player going out when Martinez gets activated is probably going to be Omir Santos, who caught one game when he first came up but hasn’t seen the backside of the plate since.

Alex Avila has been hitting and catching so well that Leyland can’t afford to give him a day off.